Alexander Pope

In this summary of Rodney Starks book “The Rise of Christianity” I will discussing chapters 1, 2, and 4, I found the arguments in these chapters most compelling giving the best overview on the rapid expansion of the Christian religion. Chapter 1 explains the rapid growth and conversion rate of the Christian population by providing charts, facts, and statistics about the conversion and growth rate of the Christian population. Chapter 2 explains the class basis of early Christianity giving…

In The Humanistic Tradition the author, Gloria Fiero presents Martin Luther as the voice of the religious reform movement against the abuses of the Church of Rome. Martin Luther's revolt against the church was an attempt to put an end to “the misery and wretchedness of Christendom” (Friero, Pg. 475). Hence he insisted that the way to find peace with God was through having heartful faith in God. Thus this idea contradicted some of the corrupt behaviors that the church was practicing such as…

An Irish priest named Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was a patron of Rome’s high life, a well-respected Vatican diplomat and a regular attendee of all the most prestigious parties in the capital. O’Flaherty grew up in an Ireland under British control at the turn of the 20th century. Irish citizens fighting for their own freedom faced the wrath of harsh British army forces, including the infamous ‘Black and Tans’. As a young clerical student he witnessed first-hand atrocities committed by the Black…

1. What was the context of the Protestant Reformation? (3) At this point of history there was only one church in the West- Catholic church which was controlled by the pope. The church was corrupted and the pope and cardinal were living like kings. Popes claimed more power as well as commanded armies and more political alliances. The corruption of the church was well known and several attempt had been made to reform the church but none of them were successful until Martin Luther came. 2. Who…

My choice for my second paper was the ecclesiology of Vatican II and the book you assigned me was Rediscovering Vatican II: The Church in the Making by Richard R. Gaillardetz. At the publishing of the book it had been forty years since the close of Vatican II and the publisher thought it would be a great idea to publish books that make the teachings of the sixteen documents more accessible to Catholics. This book focuses on three of the documents, you could say one major, Lumen Gentium, and two…

The Reformation was a religious revolution that was held in Western church in the 16th century. The most important leaders were Martin Luther and John Calvin. The reformation had political, economic and social effects, thus the reformation was the underlying foundation for the founding of Protestantism. Protestantism is one of the three major branches of christianity. Reformation was introduced mainly to give talks about issues that negatively affected Catholicism, along with others supporting…

control of lands and peoples. For a king or pope to be successful, not only did they need support from their people, they needed support from other people in power. Alliances allowed rulers to share resources and influence to gain more political and religious power. Papal authority during the Middle Ages was heavily influenced by their relationships with monarchies. When a pope had a strong relationship with a powerful king such as the alliance between Pope Stephen II and King Pippin III, they…

later printed, then given to the Pope (Dutton, 392). The Pope later declared Luther as an outlaw to the Catholic Church in the Edict of Worms (Dutton, 395), tarnishing Luther’s reputation. The papacy’s power and how it was being used to further boost themselves shows the corruption that Martin Luther was trying to expose and/or fix. A lot of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses was based around indulgences that the papacy uses to gain wealth. Luther believes that the Pope is being selfish with his money…

Catholic Church has impacted our society in many different aspects. Throughout the era of Western Civilization until 2016, education, politics and art have remained imperative. Without the knowledge and creativeness of our prehistoric Roman Emperors, and Popes the Catholic Church would cease to exist today. The Roman Catholic Church is a contribution to the study of Science. For instance; Father Giambattista was the first person to document the rate of a freely falling body. Jesuits (is a…

resistance to this practice of selling indulgences started when Johann Tetzel was sent to Germany by Pope Leo X to sell indulgences as a way to raise money so that St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome could be rebuilt. One year later, Martin Luther wrote his 95 theses. His 95 theses was a direct objection to the Catholic church’s practice of indulgences. What Luther disagreed with is that he believed the Pope did not have the right to grant forgiveness of sins. After his copy of the 95 theses was…